The Rugby Football League has published a regionalised format for its controversial restructure of the community game.
It is likely to receive substantial opposition because it has been suggested that up to 80% of National Conference League clubs have rejected the proposals.
Part of the restructuring would mean the formation of a new division to be known as National Conference Cumbria.
Five Barrow sides – Barrow Island, Dalton, Hindpool Tigers, Millom and Ulverston – would join Distington, Ellenborough, Hensingham, Maryport and Seaton Rangers from the west of the county.
Word on the grapevine, however, is that the Barrow clubs are adamant they don’t want included in a Cumbria Division and are insisting they should be placed in a North West section with Lancashire clubs.
National Conference North West, National Conference Cumbria and National Conference Southern will sit below the National Conference Premier and National Conference Division One.
Wath Brow are currently the only Cumbrian side in the top-flight while Kells and Egremont are in Division One.
There are also two more Leagues – National Conference Yorkshire A and Yorkshire B.
Below these are seven Regional Leagues classed as tier four, including Cumbria (currently the Cumberland ARL) which sits alongside North West, Yorkshire, South West and West, South East and London, Midlands and North East.
The Cumbria Regional League has 20 teams and will presumably be split into two divisions, and again nine of them are from the Barrow area. With their reluctance to join with West Cumbria, it casts doubt already on whether it can get off the ground.
The 20 teams proposed as participants are: Wath Brow A, Lowca, Flimby, Cockermouth Titans, Askam, Glasson Rangers, Roose Pioneers, Kells A, Hensingham A, Egremont Rangers A, Aspatria Hornets, Distington A, Maryport A, Barrow Island A, Dalton A, Hindpool Tigers A, Millom A, Roose Pioneers A, Ulverston A, Walney Central.
The RFL want to bring the new set-up in for next season but many clubs have said it would be better to have much more time to discuss a particularly tough and complicated subject, and not implement until 2027.
The RFL said that 2026 was the 40th anniversary of the founding of the NCL and the move towards the new structure would recognise the significance of that anniversary as it evolved.
